Zambia believed

I believe that nothing takes place by chance. Everything happens by design.

I was one of those people who predicted from the start that Ivory Coast would win the Africa Cup of Nations this year. I’m sure more than 90 per cent of African pundits predicted the same, especially after Ghana was removed from the tournament.

Zambians believed and it’s in that belief that I speak about today.

The reason why many predicted an Ivory Coast victory was obvious. They had the most experienced squad on the continent, while the absence of Cameroon and Egypt made it their tournament to lose. On any given day, the Ivorians would have walked away with the gold medals.

On any given day for Chelsea, Didier Drogba would have scored a penalty but it wasn’t to be. Be it nerves for Drogba at the tournament or the penalty spot, which he angrily looked back at after missing the penalty on Sunday night, it wasn’t to be.

One of the differences between Ivory Coast and Zambia, over the entire three-week period of the tournament, was that the West Africans were focusing on the title, while Zambia was taking it one step at a time. I think Ivory Coast was too excited because the tournament was looking easy and that is where they lost it.

When Zambia arrived at Afcon they made an open declaration that they would like to play in the final in Libreville to honour their late heroes who had died there. It wasn’t a realistic declaration, even to them.

Realistically, Herve Renard said that his target was to reach the semifinals. The Chipolopolo had reached the quarterfinals in Angola two years ago and they wanted to go one better. When they reached the semifinals, their level of confidence had grown ten-fold. After their opening day victory against Senegal, their confidence level had received a major boost.

Zambia believed!

Many people would agree with me that Zambia did not play the best football at the tournament but no other team could rival their desire and their belief to succeed. It was like the team was possessed and, at each stage of the competition, their desire increased. As I watched the players, led by FAZ (Football Association of Zambia) President Kalusha Bwalya, pay tribute to the fallen heroes on the Atlantic Ocean coastline in Libreville, something sparked inside of me and told me that the final was not going to be a one-sided affair. The Ivorians had the skill but Zambia had the belief.

While I’m focusing on Zambia’s belief today, the talent that shone in the squad doesn’t go unnoticed. Their captain, Chris Katongo, led by example. Katongo is such a work-horse and it was clear that the squad was emulating him. Katongo emerged as the player of the tournament but that accolade could easily have also gone to their goalkeeper Kennedy Mweene. Emmanuel Mayuka, Joseph Musonda (whose injury I hope has healed), Isaac Chansa and many others in the Zambian squad showed that skill plus desire equals victory.

Zambia believed!

There is a half-hour documentary that has been running on SuperSport for the past ten days or so, called “Football Phoenix”. If you watch that programme you will understand why Zambia is emerging as the newest African football powerhouse. They are not there yet but winning an Afcon is a great start.

The programme shows how the government is investing in football infrastructure and the projects that support the beautiful game. If you think about how the country lost an entire football team in 1993 and then went on to reach the final of Afcon a year later, it shows that they have a good development programme. The support is from the top to the bottom; from the president of the country to the young boy who plays in the streets.

I turn to my country Kenya and ask whether our government really cares about the development of football. Most football development activities in Kenya have been spearheaded by Corporate Kenya. The new Federation is trying to improve the situation and I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt for now but Kenya still lags behind. If, heaven forbid, Kenya were to find herself without our first 11 (even through injury) would we be able to remotely compete internationally?

Right now Coach Francis Kimanzi has insisted on calling up Arnold Origi for our international with Togo later this month and yet Origi quit international football. Kimanzi says he didn’t use the proper channels (ie he quit on Facebook) but it shows how desperate we are; that we do not have a wide pool of players or a method of selecting them. Sad indeed.

But back to the Champions of Africa. Zambia developed their talent and Zambia believed. Congratulations my brothers, you earned it.